Capture
by ReaderWriterFan
Summary: Riza and Nanao are taken by Aizen and Bradley to ransom their bosses. It's now left up to Shunsui and Roy to save them!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I ensure all who read this I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist nor Bleach and I won't own either of them for the duration of time I used to create this fanfic.

**The Start of Everything**

A sigh escaped Riza's lips as she glared at the ash black haired man, who was lazily relaxing at his desk while the paperwork piled up in front of him.

"_Well, no other way to get him to work so…I guess it'd be alright if I brought my gun out again." _As Riza pondered the difficult situation, the man who was head of Alchemical University one of the top scientific and mathematical universities in the country began to snore. That was the last straw for Riza.

The subtle, familiar click of a gun's safety being turned off had the head of the department leaping up, his dark eyes looking as if he had seen a ghost, as Riza aimed the gun at him.

"Sir you better get signing before you're late for the deadline." With that, Riza's finger tightened on trigger and sheered off a lock of his hair.

An audible gulp was heard as Mr. Roy Mustang immediately began to work on one of the several stacks of papers that were scattered around the office. Riza settled back in her chair, while pulling one of the piles closer to begin forging his signature. _"I wonder…" _Thought Riza, _"…what would happen if I wasn't here?"_

Nearby there is a second building almost exactly like the first one only this is the Rukongai Academy of the Arts, known for its classes of music, art, and literature.

Inside is another man dressed somewhat similarly to the first man, but with a few…exceptions I suppose you could say. Instead of the western black dress coat he wore a pink haori covered in sakura blossoms and a straw hat perched on his head, shadowing his eyes. Though same as Roy the room had piles of unsigned paperwork scattered around the office.

This man is Shunsui Kyouraku, he is the head of the university.

The woman currently glaring at him right now has dark hair and amethyst eyes while Riza is blonde with eyes the color of topaz. So their physical appearance are basically polar opposites, you will soon see the similarities. A yell should usually be heard right now…

"KYOURAKU-SAN!" …there it was.

This was loud, firm, and unyielding…this voice comes from Nanao Ise, Kyouraku's hardworking assistant.

"Yes? My lovely Nanao-Chan?"

Shunsui Kyouraku's deep voice resounded back to meet Nanao's while he nursed a bottle of sake in his right hand. A sigh escaped the assistant's lips as she took in a deep breath to respond.

"Kyouraku-San you need to get you paperwork done before Yamamoto Sensei comes to fire you and that name's is inappropriate I am known as Ise-san!"

"But I don't want to! Must you take away my chief enjoyment for the day? Nanao-Chan why don't you do my work again and forge my signature like you've been doing?" Wheedled Kyouraku

" I have and will continue to do that but I can't keep up with the hundreds of papers that were due last month!"

Once Nanao had finished her rant, a fan appeared in her hand to quickly rap Kyouraku's wandering hands while sweeping her legs underneath him, knocking him into his seat. Needless to say the Kyoraku got to work under the threat of being pummeled to death, Nanao sat back down in her chair to continue forging his signature.

The similarities between the two couples were really quite astounding, the males were both womanizers, really hated paper work, were extremely intelligent…when they wanted to be and were wary of their female counterparts. The females on the other hand were hard working, proper, one of the few that could keep their respective bosses in line, and threatened them when all else failed.

To think they don't realize the other's existence. That was all going to change soon. Something drastic would change this everyday routine.

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><p>Sorry this is so short. The next chapter will be longer. Oh yeah to those of you who read this please give some ideas to what can replace Roy's alchemy. Please review~<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chance Meeting**

Shunsui's face turned to Nanao as she finished off the remains of the paperwork. His face changed to a pout as he tried to "convince" his cold assistant to allow him to take the night off. Finally Nanao agreed, a vein in her temple throbbing while her eyes glinted dangerously. Thankfully Shunsui was intelligent enough to get out of there. FAST!

Sitting quietly in the office she finished signing and forging signatures, stretching upward and letting the pen fall from her fingers to the desk.

A small smile played on her lips as she grabbed her coat and stepped into the breezy autumn wind. As she allowed the rising moon's light dance across her face something jerked her off guard. The heavy sound of a man's footsteps.

Continuing her quick pace, Nanao kept an ear on the clumsy tracker. Soon the footsteps stopped to be replaced by the sound of several footsteps, all men. Quickly she turned around to be faced by twelve men, every one of them large and bulky. The largest of them stepped forward, a slimy smile oozing onto his face. They would expect her to go quietly. A cold smile, unnoticeable by the men appeared, that wouldn't happen.

Lunging forward Nanao took all of them by surprise as she let her hand punch forward to smash in the slime's nose. Cursing out the leader held his hand against his nose and nasally yelled out,

" GET HER!" Yelling and whooping the eleven remaining men charged forward.

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><p>Riza yawned as she looked at the clock and gave a quick glance at the rest of the men and women still here, all of which were dead on their feet. Waving her hand, she gave them the rest of the night off.<p>

"_Ugh. It's already nearly one in the morning. Might as well leave the rest for tomorrow." _Riza mused. With that thought Riza left to catch at least a few hours of sleep before returning to the mountain of paperwork.

Shivering slightly she went outside only to find a girl with twelve men, four of which were unconscious, the rest trying to get a punch in. The girl on the other hand was valiantly defending herself, even than one of them managed to get through her defenses and punch her porcelain face leaving a scratch and a large bruise beginning to form.

Drawing one of the two guns she always carried with her, her hand tightened on the trigger and watched in satisfaction as one of the men screamed out as a thin red line appeared above the man's eye.

"Watch yourselves I will aim lower next time." Her voice cold with ice. A smile just as cold as her voice appeared as she watched the men carry off the wounded and scamper off.

Riza turned to Nanao as she prodded at the bruise that was forming around the scrape began to swell. Nanao gave a groan.

"What is it?" Riza asked, puzzled, " Be glad it could be a lot worse. By the way I'm Riza." Nanao nodded and spoke,

"I'm Nanao and I know but the problem is my boss, he's going to murder those guys and I'm going to have to get him out of prison AGAIN!" Riza laughed, the sound ringing throughout the empty street.

"Trust me been there done that. Come on, I'll see if I can help hide that so your boss won't go on a killing spree." Nanao stepped back, waving her hands as she protested,

"It's fine I'll patch it up at home!" Riza just smiled and beckoned for the dark haired woman to follow. Hesitantly Nanao followed, a tissue pressed against the scrape.

Within ten minutes they reach the apartment, to Nanao's surprise it was where her apartment was situated as well. Climbing upwards they reached the sixth floor and Riza let her in. Yapping, a small black and white puppy came running up to them, welcoming them. Laughing once more Riza introduced them,

"Nanao this is Black Hayate." While tilting his head Black Hayate gave one more yap and ran off. Both of them laughed as Riza led Nanao into the living room.

Gesturing for the uneasy woman to sit Riza set off for the restroom to gather the supplies she would need.

Nanao sat there nervously, letting her hands fix her hair back up neatly and push her wireframe glasses back up her nose. Soon Riza was done and set the materials on the coffee table. Taking a cotton ball she soaked it in iodine and pressed it into Nanao's scrape. Nanao grimaced as the liquid caused the wound to sting with a vehemence.

"Done" Riza declared keeping an eye on her handiwork. Some makeup hid the bruise well and a bandage covered the bright red of the scratches. Studying her reflection Nanao gave a small smile since the wound was well covered and would remain covered until she could explain to Shunsui before he err…jumped to conclusions.

"Thank you for doing this and here," Nanao said handing her a piece of paper containing her number, "here's my number and call me if you have time so I can thank you." Walking out the door Nanao allowed the small smile to grow larger as she reached her own apartment. They would become friends, she knew it.

The next day Nanao walked into the office on time as always and Shunsui waltzed in singing his praises of his "lovely, lovely Nanao-Chan!" Her temple throbbing, Nanao resisted the tempting offer to punch him as she began to explain the scratch before he leapt to some ridiculous conclusion…

"Nanao-Chan! What happened to your beautiful face? Did your lover hit you in the face?" …too late. Her fists shaking Nanao gritted out,

"No this didn't come from a lover! I tripped and scraped it on the concrete, and Kyouraku-San you are to call me Ise-San." Immediately Shunsui backed off, the fire in his eyes fading into softly glowing embers.

Time flew past as the two argued, fought, repeated this cycle, and one of them managed to get her paperwork done by lunch. Suddenly, with a sharp RING! The sound of a cell phone managed to break through their banter, arguing whatever you prefer to call it.

Picking it up Nanao held it against her ear as she fended off an eager Shunsui. "Hello? Oh, hi! Yeah sure I'll meet you there in ten minutes okay?" Tapping a button on the phone she turned to Shunsui and abruptly said," I'm going to lunch." As she walked off, Shunsui quickly began to follow her hoping it wasn't an admirer or worse, a suitor. The thought made him shiver causing his eyes took on a determined look as he followed Nanao quietly out the door.

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><p>Meanwhile, Riza was trying to get Roy back into the world of the living while he snoozed at his desk, his pen poised above a sheet of paper. Giving up she finally pulled her gun. That usually worked…not this time. Grimly she aimed and fired at Roy the bullet landing a centimeter away from his head. Starting he woke and scrambled away the woman holding a smoking gun.<p>

"Sir I'm going on my lunch break." Her voice finally breaking the silence which had followed the gunshot.

Riza walked out the door, but the moment she left the men in the room began to chatter about the phone call the assistant had made before shooting at the boss. Roy listened with interest, his mind beginning to thing and plot. A smirk appeared on his face. _Well what if Riza meets up with a rapist. I should be there to protect her. _Roy's logic made sense…albeit only in his mind. But that was beside the point, he walked out the door to follow Riza on her meeting with Nanao.

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><p>Thank you for reading this!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Learning and Disappearing**

Ridiculous. That was the only way anyone who saw the pink clad man could describe him. Nanao continued to walk checking her watch and muttering to herself,

"Where did that idiotic man put his sake? I need to dump all of it down the drain or else he's going to throw another party and the last one took forever to clean up." Unfortunately for Nanao, she didn't notice the quiet murmurs of the afternoon rush as they exclaimed at the…extravagant man as he snuck behind his assistant.

Roy had more luck than the other as he walked through the crowd, looking like any other man on the street. Riza reached the café that she and Nanao had decided on and looked around for the black haired woman.

Allowing herself to relax into her book, nothing usually would have been able to stop her. Though this time as the presence of another person sat across from her, she forced herself to close the book and look at the smiling woman.

"Hello Riza-San." Nanao courteously greeted her.

"Afternoon Nanao. Did that boss of your's get thrown in jail for murdering those thugs from last night yet?" Leaping out of the bushes Shunsui spoke out.

"WHAT?" All eyes were drawn to him as his loud voice echoed throughout the area. Nanao's face immediately turned bright red as she dragged Shunsui down before he went destroying the nearest thing…or person.

"Shunsui calm down, they didn't harm me! _Well not a lot."_ Saying the last part under her breath. Remaining in his rage that, "Someone had harmed his precious Nanao-Chan!" Nanao turned to her last resort. Her fan.

With a loud thwack! Nanao's fan slammed down into Shunsui's forehead as Shunsui clutched his forehead to act like the drama king he is. Nanao turned to give him the death glare that immediately stopped his whining. A sigh escaped her lips as she turned back to Riza,

"Well now that he's here let me introduce you to Kyouraku Shunsui, my boss." Riza suppressed the smile that was threatening to bubble to the surface at their antics.

"Might as well introduce you to mine as well. Roy!" Riza raised her voice just a notch so that the nearest bush could hear her. Popping from the bush Roy had a pensive look on his face,

"How'd you know?"

"The smell of Havoc's cigarette smoke. No one here's smoking." Riza supplied, sipping her tea.

"Dang it! I knew I should have banned smoking from the office!" Roy muttered as he walked over to take a seat at the table.

"Nanao, Mr. Kyouraku this is my boss, Roy Mustang." A smirk grew on his face as the conversation between the group of four progressed.

By the end of it Kyouraku and Mustang already had agreed to meet tomorrow at a nearby bar while the girls looked on disapprovingly as they glared at the slacking males. Both had paperwork. The last straw for them was the two lazy men began to flirt with the waitress.

A glint appeared in both of their faces. A very bad sign for the enamored men. One way or another they were going to be dragged back to the offices unconscious or even worse without an arm. The subtle click sounded as Nanao jabbed her hand at a point in Shunsui's neck. Shunsui collapsed as if drunk, which he never did, with his liver of iron. Roy was already out with the tranquilizer dart that Riza had modified to fit in her gun.

Calling their subordinates Riza and Nanao managed to drag them out to the car that was waiting for them.

"Would you like to meet again tomorrow?" Riza asked she set Roy in the car with help from the driver.

"Of course, but should we bring these two?" Nanao said, flicking her eyes at the two unconscious men. Giving a sigh Riza helped Nanao carry the much larger Shunsui into the second car.

"It's not as if we have a chance, they'll follow us anyways." Nanao snorted,

"Yes I guess you're right. So here tomorrow?" Nodding they each got into their respective cars and drove off.

By the time Riza had reached the university, Roy had awakened and was frantically trying to find some way around the paperwork. Nanao was fending off the flirting Shunsui and in essence both subordinates were having a somewhat difficult time keeping their bosses in line. Little did they know four eyes followed their moves with an indescribable hunger.

Two mouths grinned in the dark as they watched the girls push the men into the building. One of the men's mouth was twisted in a dark, sinister smile. They lay in wait for the perfect timing…than they would pounce.

Nanao closed her eyes, enjoying the peace and quiet of the office as the noon sunlight streamed in through the windows. Peace and quiet was rare here as it was always bustling with people trying to finish the paperwork that Kyouraku-San neglected, but for once they had finished early and everyone else was relaxing.

Sipping from her tea, Nanao continued to gaze out the window until a loud slamming shattered the quiet and as Nanao's eyes raised she found herself barely two inches from her bosses' face. Scrambling backward, Nanao completely forgot of the tea in her hands as it spilled from her cup to scald her hands. Grimacing, she dropped the cup she was using to nurse her burned hands.

Shattering, the cup left sharp shards of ceramic scattered across the floor. As the giant drama king swooped in to help "Poor, sweet Nanao-Chan!" Her hand flew up to stop him as she gave him a glare that sent him back to the bar he had come from. Sighing, Nanao began to pick up the shards of ceramic before someone stepped on it.

Similarly Riza was done with the paperwork and cleaning her gun, Roy burst in through the doors ready to burst with his excitement. Skidding to a stop Roy stared down the barrel of a gun into the eyes of the startled Riza.

Exhaling Riza slowly moved the gun down to glare at the careless man. _Sometimes he can be so stupid! _Riza fumed as Roy babbled on about unimportant things. With a clean snap the gun slid shut as Riza finished cleaning the gun. An audible gulp was heard as Roy backed off slowly as if dealing with a wild animal and once reaching the door, he dashed off to the nearest sanctuar_y. _

Relaxing, Riza reached into her desk to load the gun and to prepare for the next time she would need to threaten Roy. Unfortunately she would need the bullets but not for that man.

Soon as the day crept lazily past but soon it was 10 and the office hours were over. A small smile graced Riza's lips as she thought that she would get the first full nights sleep for a month…she would be wrong. For as soon as she took the first step onto the sidewalk. A pure white cloth smothered her and the sweet stench that it gave off sent her spiraling to unconsciousness as she was dragged off.

Nanao had enjoyed the quiet day reading and just getting a bit of next week's paperwork done. Time had flew past as Nanao stood to leave as she let a smile break past her usual mask. Yet she doesn't know that behind her was her a shadow, just a shade darker than the others was creeping after her.

A sharp crack echoed throughout the empty building, shortly followed by the soft thudding of flesh meeting concrete. A tall brown haired man walked out of the shadows to allow his cold eyes to glance at her, before he carried her off into the night.


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry I haven't updated recently. School is my reason _sigh. _Why must they create such an abomination? Anyways thanks for reading and let's continue!

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><p><strong>Searching<strong>

Creeping carefully, Roy made his way around corners, back pressed against the wall, and eyes darting around nervously before he edged his way into a room expecting bullets to pepper the walls behind him but…nothing came. He was greeted with the sight of an empty desk and no note in sight.

"In all the time I've known her. She's never taken a day off work or even school, even when she was sick. Where'd she go?"

Similarly Shunsui was just bouncing in the office at two expecting to fill his day with annoying his precious Nanao-Chan. He hadn't expected this.

Chaos filled the room, papers were flying everywhere, a spilled inkwell began to spread, and people were running around like scared chickens. Grabbing the nearest person's shoulder Shunsui yelled out,

"What's happening?"

"Ise-San isn't here today!" Yelled the panicked worker. Shunsui froze. Nanao's never missed a day of work. What was happening?

Groggy eyes flickered open to be greeted by nothing but darkness and shadows. Sapphire eyes searched for a sliver of light that might have pierced the monotonous background which surrounded her. Hands strained against tight bindings that imprisoned her and Nanao sat there on the cold concrete her thoughts going back to her past as her eyes went blank.

Similarly a pair of topaz eyes peered out into the darkness that enveloped the whole room. No sound pierced through the unnatural quiet except for her breathing. Nothing was out there. Thinking back she remembered the cloying, sweet smell that had permeated her lungs. An attempt to stand was met by swirling darkness as Riza tripped over the bindings that had avoided her attention.

Meanwhile with the men they were anxiously calling and recalling the familiar phone numbers of their assistants leaving hundreds of messages to ring throughout their empty apartments. Finally they decided to call the other about their problem. Once they knew about the other's problems they became frantic, immediately setting off for the apartment building to valiantly search for them.

They found nothing, no hint of where their much needed assistants were. One found a whining pup, tugging at his sleeve to his food bowl. The sharp tone of a phone broke the eerie silence in both homes. Eyes flicked to the ringing object that diverted them from their task and their hands reached to grasp the phones.

"Hello." Spoke two voices oozing with command as they spoke in perfect synchronization.

"We've got your assistants. Listen carefully if you want them back. You will set 1 million dollars in unmarked bills at the old warehouses at tonight at midnight. We'll see you there." Eerie laughter filled the ears of the men as one slammed the phone down, angered. The other set the phone down in quiet anger.

Both stood and walked out of the empty apartments. They had to save them. Shunsui stopped outside of the apartment building as a thought struck him. Quietly Shunsui whispered smirking,

"He said tell no one. I'll just more than one than." Suddenly, Roy blinded with rage and desperation plowed out of the building. The smirk still on his face Shunsui turned to inform him of the newest development Shunsui had thought of.

Boisterous laughter filled the neighborhood as neighbors looked on, disapproving of the seemingly crazy men standing at the door of the apartment building.

Riza woke from her collapse as Nanao shook herself from her journey through her past. By now pale, weak light came from a single bulb hanging above the two. Looking across to each other Nanao spoke her voice hoarse,

"Where are we?" Riza opened her mouth to answer but instead a cold voice echoed between them,

"You don't need to know that but, relax you'll be out of here soon…when your bosses pay up." The last part barely distinguishable but they heard it nonetheless. The sudden explosion was equivalent to that of a volcano as the girls yelled out and struggled in the bindings.

A self satisfying smirk spread across the man's face. Lifting his foot, he was about to enter the room when a black haired man with an eye patch, oddly enough entered the room. The man spoke out to the struggling girls,

"Your bosses have agreed to pay the one million dollars. Even if they do, they'll never get to see you again." A smirk played on his lips as he saw the barely masked fear and anger that flared in their eyes.

Striding out, the two kidnappers walked out of the room as the girls tried in vain to break the ropes that kept them from killing the two men. Once the footsteps had faded, Riza felt cold glass touch her fingertips as Nanao twisted around to greet her with her bared eyes.

Riza gave a slight nod and grasped the sharp shard of glass which had came from Nanao's shattered glasses. The jagged edge began to make its way through the thick rope and as it cut, it began to open their road to freedom.

With the boys however, though they had already notified the police their thoughts were running wild as scenario after scenario passed through their over exuberant imaginations. Their faces grew more and more horrified as their imaginations grew more and more ridiculous. Soon they had reached the point of running around crazily, muttering under their breath.

Two loud slaps sounded as two men stood before the frantically pacing idiots. One had long, white hair, and pale skin while the other had glasses, short dark hair, and smile on his face despite the dire event that had taken place. The two stunned men stood there staring at their friends as the dark haired man collapsed snickering at Roy's stunned expression while the white haired man simply arched an eyebrow at Shunsui.

"Jyuu-" Whined Shunsui as he rubbed his stinging cheek.

"What? MAES! What did you do that for!" Roy pouted, as his cheek throbbed.

"You acting like a desperate fool of course!" Maes replied, clearly enjoying this.

"You as well Shun." Replied Jyuushirou Ukitake, his white hair moving slightly in the cool breeze.

"Go and find the girl instead of moping here!" Spoke the two men simultaneously. With these words the two men turned a new glint of determination in their eyes as they rushed off stupidly in a random direction. A sigh escaped from parted lips as Ukitake groaned, "They'll need a lot of help and luck. They don't even know where to begin!"


	5. Chapter 5

So this is the last installment and I hope all of you guys like it!

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><p><strong>Ticking Time and Saviors<strong>

With final sounding SNAP! the rope gave under the sharp glass, covered with crimson blood as crude, ragged cuts covered Riza's hands as her unprotected hands gripped the glass even tighter and began to saw at Nanao's bonds. Time was of the essence, there was not a second to spare.

Rushing around town, Roy and Shunsui were completely stumped on where to begin. Unfortunately they had no idea where to start. Their depression returning as they sat there with no Ukitake or Maes to urge them on. Glancing at the watch that wrapped around his wrist, Roy's eyes nearly bugged out. It was nearly 7 o' clock, they had 5 hours to gather the million.

By the time the money was collected, the last strand of rope had already been broken and all that was left were Nanao's wire frames, shattered glass, and torn pieces of rope laying on the concrete floor. Standing at the doorway they began to wander the long hallways for the exit, watching warily for their foes.

The clock was ticking for both parties as midnight came closer and the labyrinth that Nanao and Riza were in seemed to only lead them in circles. The black haired man with the eye patch looked in on the room to find that they were gone.

A smirk slowly stretched across his face instead of the expected fury that should've burned in his eyes.

"Aizen! They escaped. Now we can test the traps on them." Aizen smiled, his cruel brown eyes began to stare at the screens which were wired to cameras in the maze that the now endangered girls had stumbled into.

"Good. Bradley, we will soon become rich men."

It was now 10 and with only two hours the males began to pace once more, their heads wandering once again. Comically they had begun to create holes where they walked, by the time they had finished their insistent pacing the holes were nearly three feet deep.

"ARGH!" Screamed out Shunsui and Roy ready to bolt off to the warehouses to start searching for those kidnapping _*censored*. _

Bright flames danced, inches from their skin while Riza and Nanao edged carefully past them. A sigh of relief passed their lips. Already they had encountered arrows, a crocodile, and now a nearly impossible maze of flames.

"Who needs guards when you have deadly traps." Nanao darkly muttered. Riza nodded, in too foul a mood to reply. Suddenly with a rush of wind, sickly sweet smoke began to fill the room. Diving to the ground Nanao tore her shirt and covered her lower face with it to protect her from as much smoke inhalation as possible. Gesturing for Riza to do the same they managed to crawl out of the poisonous smoke.

"What's next?" Groaned Riza.

The chimes of the clock were heard all across the land as Shunsui and Roy skidded to a stop at the warehouses. The twelfth chime had just faded when the doors were slammed open by two angry men. Inside they expected the two men to be in there. Instead there were a set of doors that led down into darkness.

Creeping slowly down those steps, their minds more rational in the dark, their eyes searched constantly for a flash of topaz or sapphire. Creeping down the hallway the two men were greeted by smoke and a pile of rocks sitting just at the edge of that thick smoke. Bending down Roy wordlessly gripped a rock. It was smeared with bright red.

They dug into the sharp stones as bit by bit two bodies were revealed. They looked as if they were sleeping except they were covered in scrapes, cuts dark bruises were starting to form on their pale skin, and the deep gash . Cradling their bodies the two men began to walk back to the staircase only to be greeted by the two who had set their whole world upside down.

Setting the girls on the floor the men slowly turned back to face the two men; no…monsters that had kidnapped their beloved assistant's. The same oozing, oily voice came out from Aizen as a confident smirk spread across his face.

"Do you have the money?" Glares were all that met their "request."

"Oh. What a pity, must we do things the hard way?" Sighing Aizen quickly leaped down and faced off with Shunsui. Bradley silently following him, drawing the two blades which hung at his waist.

Flesh met flesh as Shunsui and Aizen fought back and forth their fists and feet jabbing out only to be blocked. Dodging all of his slashes and jabs, Roy kept himself from feeling the sharp steel that had yet to be imbedded in his gut.

Hazy eyes flicked open as Nanao woke to the grunting of men; her dull amethyst eyes watched them fight back and forth, uncomprehending until a groan of pain came out of Shunsui's mouth. Her eyes snapped to attention as Aizen took a lucky strike.

She leapt to unsteady feet to help the man as he clutched his stomach and his eyes took on a serious glint. Nanao leaped into the fray, her mind, clouded. Riza had managed to run back through the deactivated maze into control room to find her guns sitting on a table. A smirk on her pale face, Riza began to run as quickly as she could back to the battle field.

During the duel between them, Nanao had cleared her head somewhat and now was slowing circling around to face the back of Aizen. Hesitating only a minute, Nanao launched forward and swept his legs out as Shunsui took advantage of this distraction to pin the tall man down.

Narrowly dodging the quick darting blade, Roy wiped thick blood that wept from the scratches that now decorated his body. Quick pants came from his heaving lungs as sweat poured down his face. Growling, Roy leapt at Bradley once more, only to narrowly miss having his head sliced off.

Something seemed to barely graze Roy's skin as Riza stood there, her gun held in front of her and as the new scratch on Roy's face began to bleed. Eyes wide, Bradley stood there with his swords hanging limply at his side. Blood now covered the front of his jacket as Aizen fell unconscious with Shunsui's fist.

With the threat gone and the adrenaline fading from their bloodstreams, Riza and Nanao collapsed, everything fading to black leaving only the faces of their bosses staring helplessly at them.

Floating. Floating in complete black, darkness, they lay there drowning in the dark, there was nothing. No sound came to echo in their ears, no current of wind swept past their grasping fingertips, and worst of all was the blackness that seemed to cover their eyes like a blindfold that let not the smallest glimmer of light in.

A breathy, quiet voice seemed to whisper, "Relax." The two seemed to sink further as the voice whispered its condolences and assurances only to broken by the voices of two frantic men. Their names seemed to hook them in drag them from shadowy depths…to break into white light.

Chocolate and onyx eyes gazed fretfully as Riza and Nanao woke, slowly with pain grabbing at them every chance it got. Bandages, a steady beeping, concerned eyes, and white…everything was white. Tears shamelessly shed as the two men looked at their two assistants' who had such a close brush with death.

After their healing they went back to their bantering, fighting, and habits. Albeit there are times when Roy and Shunsui become serious, even if only for a minute, their faces straight and unsmiling while Nanao and Riza looks on suspiciously to break through their fake mask of smiles and laughter. Things aren't exactly the same but…they are better.

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><p>Please Review!<p> 


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